The Supreme Court of Canada has overturned a lower court ruling and allowed the Crown to seize a vehicle belonging to a repeat drunk driver.

In a 7-0 decision today, the justices ruled that the judge in the Quebec case was wrong to deny the forfeiture order.

The case involved Alphide Manning, who was arrested near Baie-Comeau in April 2010. He subsequently pleaded guilty to two counts of impaired driving and was sentenced to 12 months on one charge and five months on the other.

The Crown also moved to seize the truck Manning was driving when he was arrested.

Manning argued that the loss of the $1,000 vehicle, his sole asset, would be overly harsh.